Appeals Court: Employees Don’t Have A Right To Wear Dreadlocks

This proves once again how intolerable others are of Black hair.

It is becoming more evident that many feel everything regarding Black people needs to be policed and/or regulated. In the latest case of attempting to diminish our value, worth, and beauty, an appeals court has ruled that employees who opt to wear dreadlocks do not have a legal right. The fact this issue made it all the way to an appeals court is infuriating enough, but the final judgment is unbelievable to boot.

It isn’t hard to realize that the banning of wearing dreadlocks in the workplace is racial discrimination, but apparently the U.S. Appeals Court didn’t see it that way, as the judgment was a unanimous decision that legally prohibits individuals from wearing dreadlocks in the workplace. The Grio has all of the details surrounding this controversial court decision that is sure to anger many.

Via The Grio:

Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that banning employees from wearing their hair in dreadlocks is not a form of racial discrimination. The lawsuit was brought to the court of appeals by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which charged that an Alabama insurance claims processing company had discriminated against Chastity Jones in 2010. They offered her employment [but stated] that she needed to get rid of her dreadlocks because of their grooming standards. When Jones refused, the company withdrew its offer of employment.

Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan, who wrote the appellate opinion, wrote that it was true that the definition of race could shift over time but that the court was not prepared to blaze a new path that they were not sure the law covered.

“We would be remiss,” he wrote, “if we did not acknowledge that, in the last several decades, there have been some calls for courts to interpret Title VII more expansively by eliminating the biological conception of ‘race’ and encompassing cultural characteristics associated with race. As far as we can tell, every court to have considered the issue has rejected the argument that Title VII protects hairstyles culturally associated with race.”

There are not enough words to express how ridiculous, culturally insensitive, and overall discriminatory this entire case ruling is. There should be no issue with wearing dreadlocks, or any other hairstyle for that matter, in the workplace.